{"id":360465,"date":"2011-04-02T11:02:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-02T11:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/02\/libya-u-s-military-and-africom-between-the-rocks-and-the-crusaders\/"},"modified":"2011-04-02T11:02:53","modified_gmt":"2011-04-02T11:02:53","slug":"libya-u-s-military-and-africom-between-the-rocks-and-the-crusaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/02\/libya-u-s-military-and-africom-between-the-rocks-and-the-crusaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Libya: U.S. Military and Africom – Between the Rocks and the Crusaders"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/p>\n
\n

\nFahamu (Oxford)\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Horace Campbell<\/p>\n

31 March 2011<\/p>\n

\n

analysis<\/p>\n

The Western bombardment of Gaddafi’s forces in Libya has become an opportunistic public relations ploy for the US Africa Command and a new inroad for US military stronghold on the continent,’ writes Horace Campbell.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Western bombardment of Gaddafi’s forces in Libya has become an opportunistic public relations ploy for the US Africa Command and a new inroad for US military stronghold on the continent. This involvement of Africom in the bombardment is now serving to expose the contradictions and deceit that have surrounded the formation of this combatant command, which has been presented by US policy makers as a front for military humanitarian assistance to Africa in coordination with the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Attempts by the USA to re-militarise its engagement with Africa is extremely dangerous, given the fact that the US does not have any positive or credible tradition of genuine assistance to freedom fighters and liberation movements in Africa.<\/p>\n

The US was complicit in the planning of the murder of Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, after which they propped up the monstrous dictator Mobutu Sese Seko who raped and pillaged the country and established a recursive process of war, rape, plunder, corruption, and brutality which the Congo still suffers from till today. Jonas Savimbi was sponsored by the US to cause destabilization and terror in Angola.<\/p>\n

The US gave military, material and moral support to the apartheid regime in South Africa while anti-apartheid freedom fighters, including Nelson Mandela, were designated as terrorists (it was only in 2008 that the US Congress passed a bill to remove Mandela’s name from the terrorist watch list ). The US has yet to tell the truth about how Charles Taylor escaped from its prison custody to go destabilize Liberia. Young people who are recruited for the US military and deployed to Africom may not know much about the notorious history of US military involvement in Africa. The military top brass take advantage of this ignorance among the young folks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Just as the US military carried out psychological warfare against US senators, one of the tasks of Africom is to rain down psychological warfare on Africans. Inbuilt in this subtle psychological warfare is the concept of the hierarchy of human beings and the superiority of the capitalist mode of production and ideas of Christian fundamentalism. It is on this front that we find a section of the US military known as the ‘Crusaders.’<\/p>\n

WHO ARE THE CRUSADERS?<\/p>\n

In a recent article in Foreign Policy, veteran US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh was reported to have revealed that there is a faction of the US military known as Crusaders. Hersh asserted that these Crusaders are bent on intensifying a war against Islam, and see themselves as protectors of Christianity.<\/p>\n

According to this report, Hersh maintained that these neoconservative elements dominate the top echelons of the US military, including figures such as former commander of US forces in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Vice Admiral William McRaven. These crusaders have held American foreign policy hostage. Hersh said, ‘What I’m really talking about is how eight or nine neoconservative, radicals if you will, overthrew the American government. Took it over.’<\/p>\n

Harpers magazine carried a lengthy report in May 2009 that placed General David Petraeus at the heart of the Crusaders. The magazine carried a very detailed article on the role of the Crusaders in the military, entitled, ‘Evangelical Proselytization Still Rampant in U.S. Military.’ In this article we are alerted to the numerous fronts of the Crusaders. The information in the magazine reported on a book published in 2005 by Lieutenant Colonel William McCoy, titled ‘Under Orders: A Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel’.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The handbook describes an ‘anti-Christian bias’ in the US, and sought to counter it by making the case for the ‘necessity of Christianity for a properly functioning military.’ McCoy’s book was endorsed by General David Petraeus, who said: ‘Under Orders should be in every rucksack for those moments when soldiers need spiritual energy.’<\/p>\n

Not only do these crusaders have control over the US military, they are also linked with a faction of the Catholic Church called ‘Opus Dei,’ an arch conservative order that has links with international banking, finance, militarism, and intelligence formations. Besides Opus Dei, one finds the fundamentalist evangelicals in the US, who are linked to the forces of Islamophobia and corporate elements.<\/p>\n

One crucial figure in this world of neoconservative militarist was Dick Cheney, former US vice president and chairperson of Halliburton. It is worth noting that it was from Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld that the idea of United States Africa Command originated.<\/p>\n

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld epitomize the crusaders. They interface with the world of militarist, corporate capital, private military contractors, and dictators. Many of these Crusaders are overt white supremacists. The careers of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and their corporate allies spawn a world-wide web of conservative militarists, politicians, intellectuals and capitalists. These crusaders do not only disdain other cultures and religions, they have little or no regards for people of color.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rumsfeld and Cheney would not have been happy to read Colin Powell when he wrote in his book that during a visit to Bunce Island in Sierra Leone he mentioned in a speech that: ‘As you know, I am an American, I am the son of Jamaicans who emigrated from the island to the United States. But today, I am something more. I am an African too. I feel my roots here in this continent’ (Colin Powell, My American Journey, page 534). There are many from the rank and file of the crusaders who believe that President Obama is not fit to be the leader of the United States, and their philosophy trickles down the hierarchy of the military, intensifying the divisions within the differing branches of US military.<\/p>\n

In 2010, one Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, a winner of medal of honor in the US military refused to take military command for deployment on grounds that he could not take orders from President Obama whom he considers unfit to be president and commander-in-chief. This belief is shared among many Republicans and conservative section of the US society, who are also present in the military and most epitomised by the crusaders. They claim that Obama was not born in the US, and thus was not supposed to be elected president.<\/p>\n

Recent polls show that 51 per cent of Republicans firmly believe Obama was not born in the US, and 21 per cent say they are unsure if he was actually born here (http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/105581\/poll-51-percent-of-republicans-think-obama-was-not-born-in-u-s). Thus, over 70 per cent of Republican constituency do not believe Obama is American and therefore don’t believe they should follow his orders.<\/p>\n

The air force training academy in Colorado has received press reports about one faction of the neocon in the air force who have manifested the most racist, sexist, and patriarchal attitude in the US armed forces (see ‘Christian Fundamentalist Bigotry Reigns at US Air Force Academy’). Those are the forces who have been most gung-ho about war because they simply drop bombs from the sky.<\/p>\n

Information on the degree of conservatism at this Air force academy came to light when the Los Angeles Times reported that A Jewish father of two Air Force Academy cadets sued the Air Force, saying that senior officers and cadets illegally imposed Christianity on others at the school.<\/p>\n

The Air Force Academy is located in one of the most conservative areas of Colorado (Colorado Springs). In the same town where the Air Force Academy is located there is the headquarters of dozens of conservative fundamentalist Christian groups, including Focus on the Family (the best-financed right-wing fundamentalist pressure group), as well as the International Bible Society and the New Life Church. These religious organizations provide the moral support for the racists and sexist ideas of the academy.<\/p>\n

For some time, there have been open disagreements within the military between these Crusaders and another section of the military called the Rocks.<\/p>\n

WHO ARE THE ROCKS?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nMore News on allAfrica.com<\/b><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n

AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n

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Go here to read the rest:
\nLibya: U.S. Military and Africom – Between the Rocks and the Crusaders<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fahamu (Oxford) Horace Campbell 31 March 2011 analysis The Western bombardment of Gaddafi’s forces in Libya has become an opportunistic public relations ploy for the US Africa Command and a new inroad for US military stronghold on the continent,’ writes Horace Campbell. The Western bombardment of Gaddafi’s forces in Libya has become an opportunistic public relations ploy for the US Africa Command and a new inroad for US military stronghold on the continent. This involvement of Africom in the bombardment is now serving to expose the contradictions and deceit that have surrounded the formation of this combatant command, which has been presented by US policy makers as a front for military humanitarian assistance to Africa in coordination with the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nLibya: U.S. Military and Africom - Between the Rocks and the Crusaders - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/02\/libya-u-s-military-and-africom-between-the-rocks-and-the-crusaders\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Libya: U.S. Military and Africom - Between the Rocks and the Crusaders - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Fahamu (Oxford) Horace Campbell 31 March 2011 analysis The Western bombardment of Gaddafi's forces in Libya has become an opportunistic public relations ploy for the US Africa Command and a new inroad for US military stronghold on the continent,' writes Horace Campbell. 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